Newly Discovered Ant Species Infiltrate Enemy Nests to Steal Food

It's a matter of hiding in plain sight for a newly discovered species of ant. These insects are able to infiltrate the nests of other species and gain access to their food sources by "disguising" themselves by using a few unique techniques.

The researchers were actually conducting field research on turtle ants in Brazil when they first spotted the new species. During the course of their study, they noticed a species of ant infiltrating the region of a host ant, Crematogaster ampla Although C. ampla is known to be extremely aggressive, it didn't attack the invading species.

"I did a true double-take when I saw this new species," said Scott Powell, one of the researchers, in a news release. "As I turned away, after seeing what appeared to be large numbers of host foragers, it registered that a couple of the ants I had just laid eyes on were not quite like the others. Turning back around, I managed to re-find the few peculiar ants in the masses of host ants, and everything followed from there."

It turns out that what Powell was seeing was a new species, the mirror turtle ant. They're the first known species of ants to use visual mimicry in order to parasitize another ant species. In other words, they mimic the movements of another species in order to avoid detection and then access their target's food. In fact, further research revealed that 89 percent of host territories had been infiltrated by the new species.

"Beyond the fascinating biology of this new ant, we appear to have a rare window into the early stages of the evolution of social parasitism, before the parasite has lost much of its free-living biology," said Powell. "This promises to help us better understand the general pressures that tip a species towards a parasitic lifestyle."

The findings are published in the journal The American Naturalist.